Oliver Letwin

If Monday’s Commons debate was post-Leveson showdown lite, today’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing was the real thing. We had Max Mosley, who famously won a 2008 court action against the (late) News of the World after it turned over his private life. And we had at least three Tory MPs who could barely contain their fury at Hacked Off’s starring role in the Ed Miliband-hosted talks which secured the cross-party regulation deal with David Cameron.

David Cameron last night insisted that he was "not the slightest bit embarrassed" about attending Eton, amid claims that senior Tories are hiding details of their private school backgrounds in the face of growing attacks on "privilege" by the Labour Party.

The Tory mischief-maker Alan Duncan was the source of considerable hand-wringing among his colleagues over the summer, following the release of a covertly filmed video in which he joked that MPs had been forced to "live on rations" since the expenses scandal and were "treated like shit". The videographer had form, having previously broken into Duncan's garden and dug a £1 coin into his lawn.

These are heady days for voters demanding a transformation in the way Britain is governed. But our political masters are the most reluctant revolutionaries &ndash; reformers can't let the pressure drop